Special Election Issue Waylays Budget OK

Nine days after the Legislature missed its deadline for passing a state budget, lawmakers left the Capitol for their districts Thursday still without a deal, after budget talks veered into issues that will appear before voters in November.

Legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have discussed tying a budget deal to several initiatives the governor helped put on the Nov. 8 special election ballot.

The initiatives would place restraints on how much the state could increase spending each year, lengthen the amount of time it would take teachers to become tenured and take away the Legislature’s authority to draw California’s voting districts.

Democratic lawmakers oppose those initiatives, and analysts have said that some contain technical flaws that could produce unintended consequences if they pass. Compromises on the measures -- which the Legislature could then place on the ballot alongside the original initiatives -- could be in the interest of both Republicans and Democrats, political analysts said.

“A contentious special election in November carries high risks on both sides,” said Republican political analyst Allan Hoffenblum. The measures the governor supports are polling poorly, Hoffenblum said, and “his prestige will be enormously low” if they fail.

The budget provides additional bargaining chips.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) said that the governor had been insisting a budget deal also include compromises on the initiatives. Perata said the governor had made it clear “that we had to do it all at once, or we don’t do any of it.”

Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer disputed Perata’s contention. “There may have been some overlap in discussions, but there was no hard-and-fast linkage,” he said.

Palmer said the governor’s refusal to support the $116.6-billion budget proposed by Democrats, which very closely resembled Schwarzenegger’s own proposed budget, was due to $1 billion in spending that Democrats added.

Negotiations have also touched on another November ballot measure, one on which the governor has not yet taken a position.

It could restrict the ability of the public unions that support Democrats to donate member dues to political campaigns.

The union dues measure is popular among the public, according to a recent Field poll, and analysts said its chances of passing would improve significantly if the governor stumped for it. Democrats could negotiate to keep him from doing that if they bent on other issues.

On Thursday, however, legislative leaders suggested that they would try to pass a budget next week, picking up discussions on the initiatives after that.

“I am optimistic,” Perata said of budget discussions. “ ... I will not go so far as to say we almost have a deal.”

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) concurred: “It’s possible next week we’ll have a budget, but then again, things can fall apart.”

He said legislative and gubernatorial staff would continue to meet through the weekend in hopes of hammering out a final agreement before the new fiscal year begins July 1, when the state must start withholding payments to schools and vendors if no spending plan is in place.

Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine expressed optimism that a budget could be in place next week.

“The depth of discussions is good,” he said. “We are not going backward.”